The Battles of The Brads brings the entertainment but Mouat wins the show.
By Jonathan Brazeau / GSOC.
ST JOHN’S, NL – The 2024 Grand Slam of Curling wrapped up in St John’s over the weekend and home town favourite Brad Gushue and his team didn’t not make the cut. He lost to Brad Jacobs in the Quarter Finals and failed to advance to the semi-finals.
Billed as the “Battle of the Brads” between superstar skips Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue in the series, but the intensity had never been amped up to this level even when they met in finals. Over 6,000 of Gushue’s fervorous fans had given his team the Taylor Swift treatment packing the Mary Brown’s Centre to full capacity all week long while cheering, shouting, clapping and stomping for their hometown hero.
Jacobs was in hostile territory but in complete control on the ice, holding the all-important hammer in the seventh end and leading 5-4. Facing two Gushue stones, Jacobs called a timeout to decide whether to score one and hold a two-point lead or give up a steal to tie the game but keep last-rock advantage coming home. The rest of the Calgary-based club deferred to their skip, and Jacobs opted for the latter.
The silence of the Mary Brown’s Centre erupted into a chorus of boos and Jacobs was loving it. Jacobs raised his arms and twirled his finger in the air to rile up the crowd as he slid down to the other end of the sheet.
The jeers rained down hard on Jacobs during every shot his team threw in the eighth end while Gushue received a standing ovation as he delivered his last rock into the house. Jacobs kept the house clean though and just needed an open hit and stick to win 6-5 and advance to the evening semifinals.
This doesn’t normally happen in curling. There are no heroes and villains, faces and heels. This was cinema and answered the Gladiator question: yes, they were entertained.
So too were the curlers.
“First of all, we all loved it,” Jacobs said. “There were a lot of apologies from a lot of people. A lot of people actually felt like it was uncalled for but you know what? Curling needs more of that.
“In any other sport out there, there’s a team that people want to win and there’s the villain and I know we’re both Brads, the Battle of the Brads for how many years now? Well over a decade. We embrace that. That’s good theatre, that’s good TV, that’s good for the sport and that makes it worth it for all of those bums in those seats.
“I also thought to myself, if any individual can reach a point in their life where they’re in an arena and they’re booed by 6,000-plus people, they’re probably doing something right in their life. We embraced it. I know that we rained on the parade a little bit but they get a lot of rain out here, so they’re used to it, right?”
Gushue received another standing O while he left the ice, the crowd gave a round of applause to Jacobs — just as they had for every curler all week long.
“This has been probably the best Grand Slam we’ve ever played in as curling athletes,” Jacobs said. “The main reason for that is all of the fans and all of the volunteers. You see all of the orange jackets, all the people volunteering, putting this thing on, and you see so many bums in seats in this arena. As curling athletes from all around the world, what we aspire to play in is full arenas and it’s been awesome.”
Bruce Mouat wins Grand Slam Hat Trick
In the end neither Brad won the event. The trophy and the glory went to Bruce Mouat who scored a hat trick in the Grand Slam of Curling.
Mouat and his Scottish squad earned a third consecutive men’s title in the series after defeating Team Brad Jacobs 5-3 during Sunday’s final.
It’s also the ninth Grand Slam championship for Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr., who finished the tournament with a 6-1 record to cash in $38,000 from the prize purse.
Edited by Greg Locke for The Sports Page.
Photos by Anil Mungal / GSOC
